David Burnham

Burnham was born September 4, 1846. His family moved to Chicago in 1855. His love for drawing landed him a job as a draftsman. He had wanted to go to either Yale or Harvard, but had performed badly on the entrance exams and was denied entrance. He tried several other careers, such as mining for gold in Nevada and selling plate glass in Chicago, but he did not succeed in these careers. He eventually was hired as a draftsman again for Peter Wight. Here he met John Root and the two became immediate friends. The two men built some of Chicago's most famous buildings and created the first skyscraper, the Montauk. His and Root's firm flourished, and he married Margaret Sherman on January 20, 1876. They eventually had five children. When Chicago was voted to host the World's Fair of 1893, Burnham was named Chief of Construction. He spent the first four years...